17 Apr 2016

Campervan fire - one dead, one in critical condition

7:35 am on 17 April 2016

One person has died and another is in a critical condition after the campervan they were travelling in caught fire.

Emergency services were called to the fire shortly after 4pm yesterday, on Tauranga Road south of Matamata.

Fire Service shift manager Scott Osmond said the driver of the campervan pulled over when the fire broke out.

St John Ambulance said one person died at the scene while a 72-year-old man got serious burns to more than half his body.

Rescuers took the man to a nearby farmhouse and submerged him in a cold bath before he was airlifted to Waikato Hospital in a critical condition.

Another passenger was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

State Highway 24 along Tauranga Road is closed and fire investigators are at the scene, Mr Osmond said.